What a solar kWh is really worth on FPL: fuel, non-fuel and the 1,000 kWh tier

When people ask what a kWh of solar is “worth,” they usually divide a bill by its kWh and get a blended number. That undersells solar on FPL. Here’s how my October 2026 bill actually prices a kWh, why I value my solar mostly at the over-1,000 kWh rate, and how the rate has moved since 2023.

The two rate lines on my bill

My bill (rate RS-1) charges every kWh twice: once for non-fuel (the cost of the power plants, the grid and FPL’s other programs) and once for fuel (mostly natural gas, which FPL passes through at cost). Both lines have two tiers:

• Base charge: $10.52 a month, whatever I use. It’s on my bill with or without solar, so it doesn’t change my savings.
• Gross receipts tax: a state tax of about 2.5% on the electric charges ($2.99 on my October bill).
• Minimum bill: $30. If the base charge plus non-fuel energy comes to less than $30, FPL bills $30 (it was $25 before 2026). In my best spring months, that’s what I pay for the house.

What’s inside “non-fuel”

The non-fuel line on the bill is a sum of several charges from FPL’s rate sheet. On the October 2026 sheet they add up exactly to my bill’s 9.365¢ and 10.365¢:

Only the base energy charge changes between the tiers. The clause charges are the same per kWh, and they’re the parts that move most from year to year.

Why I value solar at the over-1,000 kWh tier

Without solar, my house (car excluded; it’s on its own EV meter) would have used more than 1,000 kWh in 35 of the 35 months since my panels went on, usually 2,300–4,200. So the first thing solar does each month is erase the kWh that would have cost 14.258¢. Only after that does it start on the 12.258¢ ones. That’s why I compare my bill without solar to my bill with solar, rather than multiplying solar kWh by an average rate.

A worked month: August 2026

In August every solar kWh replaced an over-1,000 kWh, so each one was worth the full 14.6¢ with tax. Spring is different. In April 2026 solar made more than the house used, the extra went into FPL’s kWh reserve for later months, and I paid the $30 minimum. My model counts that month as $324.89 saved (with tax, a $355.64 bill without solar vs. $30.75 with it, which is the $30 minimum plus tax), and the banked kWh are counted when they’re used up in early summer.

Over my last 12 full months (October 2025 to September 2026), solar saved about $4,286 on 30,900 kWh, or about 13.9¢ per solar kWh with tax. That’s a little under the 14.6¢ top-tier rate because of the minimum bill and the months where solar dips into the first 1,000 kWh. Since December 2023 it averages about 13.7¢, lower partly because the first weeks before net metering was approved don’t count my exports. The full month-by-month table is in my cost and payback article.

One honest caveat: that’s the average value of my solar. One extra kWh on top of what I already make is usually worth less, about 12.6¢ with tax, because the kWh my bill still pays for are mostly in the first 1,000 kWh tier.

My rate since 2023

Here’s the RS-1 rate from FPL’s own rate sheets, in cents per kWh. Non-fuel includes all the clause charges above.

The combined first-tier rate has ranged from about 10.9¢ (mid-2024) to 13.1¢ (spring 2023). The storm surcharges come and go, and fuel follows natural gas prices. FPL has also been approved for another base-rate step in January 2027, but the per-kWh rates for it aren’t published yet. My savings model uses today’s rates for every month, so older months aren’t priced at what I actually paid then, and the estimate stays on one consistent basis.

Does it depend on where you live in Florida?

Barely, if you’re on FPL. FPL has only two price zones, and the base charge, tiers, fuel and storm charges are the same in both. The difference is one line left over from FPL’s merger with Gulf Power:

The bigger local difference is city and county add-ons: franchise fees and municipal utility taxes vary by where you live. My bill has none. If you’re served by a co-op, a city utility or Duke Energy, none of these numbers apply; check your own rate sheet.

What this means if you’re pricing solar

• Look at your monthly kWh, not your bill total. If you’re over 1,000 kWh most months, the first solar you add is worth about 14.6¢ a kWh with tax on today’s rates.
• Don’t oversize for the minimum. Once solar pushes the house down to the minimum bill, more panels mostly bank kWh for later months.
• Expect rates to move. Since 2023, my first-tier rate has swung between about 10.9¢ and 13.1¢ a kWh.

Related: my real FPL bills with net metering and what my system cost and when it breaks even.

Sources

• FPL residential rates and clauses, October 2026 (peninsular)
• FPL residential rates and clauses, October 2026 (Northwest Florida)
• Florida PSC: approval of FPL’s 2026–2029 rate settlement (Nov 20, 2025)
• Florida PSC: 2026 billing adjustments
• FPL newsroom: regulators approve FPL rate agreement